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Orjeri Union
The Orjeri Union was a civilisation in the eastern central region of Farthrone, it succeeded the Empire of Turath, absorbing many of its forming holdings and eventually surpassing it in terms of size and development. It collapsed in the years following the destruction of Orjer City. It lasted for over five hundred years was one of the major influences on the current political situation in central Farthrone. History The history of the Orjeri Union was recovered by a number of sources, such as the Scholars of Wen, isolated former Union settlements that held records, and in the organisations such as the Blackstaves that survived the collapse of the Union. Fall of Turath For more on this, see here. Following the collapse of the Empire of Turath, as the devils and demons were still slaughtering each other, the former slaves and thralls of the Empire were establishing a domain of their own. Age of Heroes The denizens of the the Empire of Turath seized the lands taken from their fiend masters, beginning an age dominated by individuals raising large forces to reconquer lands or storming citadels of iron and stone held by devil commanders to punish them from their crimes and take the artefacts they hoarded. These enclaves, often based around the leaders of different slave revolts began to form into larger factions, eventually the individual groups being subsumed into to a united region through a combination of warfare, economic coercion and charismatic leadership. The Manticore flag also emerges at this time as the battle standard for the singular army that was established. This symbol remained with the Union right up to its collapse. Expansion The Union expanded outward absorbing other cultures into itself with the mandate developing that the Union's prosperity should be shared with the world, and the fear that the fall of the Turath Empire came from the demonic invasion, the solution being seen as to make the Union too big to challenge. This philosophy lead to the Union reaching the shores of Etan and establishing a colony far across the sea and absorbing the majority of the kingdoms surrounding it. From the factions that founded the original Union, various guilds were formed that followed on from the examples presented by those individuals, the most famous of these being the Blackstaves, the Alchemist Guild and the Engineer Guild. Collapse The Union fell after the capital city and much of the central peninsula was engulfed in a thick black smoke that spread southward forcing refugees into the outer provinces which soon became destabilised ﻿with many seeing it as the end of the world. A rebellion in the east lead by dissatisfied orcs further exacerbated the situation, later these rebels established their own empire forcing the remaining loyalists to the western coast. The small port town of Genda, later renamed Berenjer, held the bulk of the refugees and facilitated the evacuation of two large arks of many of them bound for Etan, neither of which made the journey being diverted by storms. The region known as the Lattice fell to the various warlords that emerged following the breakdown of order and remains a divided and fiercely independent region. Structure The Orjeri Union was a collective of technocratic guilds and meritocratic leaders, who ruled domains of militarised towns and communities that swore loyalty to the Union through their local representatives. Loyalty One of the prevailing philosophies in the Union was that loyalty should be given to the state first and foremost rather than any individual or religious group. This is secular ideology is one of the core tenants of the political system and was one of the largest contributions to the shaping of the lives of the thousands of people in the Union. The Champions The Union was divided up into provinces each with a leader that gained the position through a combination of inheritance, popular consensus and personal merit. The premise behind the political system was that the Union would should be lead by heroes akin to those that founded the state originally, and this was decided based on a council of the heads of the oldest families and guildmembers in the province, a candidate was invited to the meeting house of these men based on a popular nomination where the people of a region could name who they saw as their champion or as representing their ideal man or woman. They then had to prove their case in whatever way they saw fit with no limitations to what could be done, needless to say creativity was encouraged. Each of these champions had near complete autonomy within their own district in deciding certain taxes and investment in public works as well as having the right to sit at the meeting of all champions once every four years to discuss the wider concerns of the Union. A champion was only ever chosen if the previous one was either killed or retired. Each champion held a council of trusted advisers, often made up of their family and friends. These would often been tasked with delegation of duties amongst the civil servants of the Union, with their power being derived from the champion. Citizen's Responsibilties The average citizen in the Union was presented with the opportunity to put forward the name of the person they believe most worth of the title of champion, with sufficient nominations an individual might be summoned before the council. Since there was a professional army in the Union there was never any need for the average person to be trained in defending their homes like others would so few people carried weapons, though a movement existed pushing for a maintaining of the ancient martial techniques to be taught to the people. Politics With the large and expansive Union, local politics of regions often dominated the minds of leaders, with the central powers of Orjer City having concerns over the wider Union as a whole. Domestic Policy Domestic priorities for the Orjeri Union was to maintain order at any cost and that all that fell within their domain was theirs to exploit as they as fit. This lead to much conflict with those in the outer provinces that often felt they got little back from the Union but had their natural resources depleted, this was seen most especially in the Glasigmyr Forest region that was notoriously rebellious. The duty of every citizen was to the continued advancement of the Union and anyone found not to be fulfilling their duty could face imprisonment or sentence to forced labour. Foreign Policy In regards to foreign policy the Union presented itself as a peacemaker often offering to mediate between two belligerent parties such as in the case of the dwarves and duergar of the Jarlara Mountains, within the fortress cities of Dol Borim and Mol Gurihm respectively. Often however the Union would manipulate events so as to somehow profit from the two groups disagreement, sometimes even annexing the states in the name of order. Military Army The Union employed a professional army and had a culture of aristocratic officers that received high quality training in the arts of war. The army was broken down into divisions based on the number of officers, who in turn would report directly to the champion. The number of soldiers range from a few dozen to an officer to a thousand under the command of several. Warrior Elites There then existed a warrior elite that often blended into the officer class that carried on the traditions of Turath along with claiming a heritage stemming back to one of the heroes at the Union's creation. These would often be in the service to a champion or wealthy lord in a region, upholding some order or oath, some could even be found wandering the Union in service to the state itself rather than any individual. Some of these elite bands still survive, such as the Silverwings. Society Social Classes The Union held various social classes based on position in society, but these mostly served only as a reference for large groups and unlike in the Empire of Turath, social mobility was not only available but encouraged. The philosophy of being the best that you can be so that the Union can be the best it can be permeated society. What was not encouraged however was being in two social classes simultaneously or marriage between social classes as that caused discord in society based on the belief that having oneself divided between two worlds left one in danger of losing oneself. In general the social class seen as the most devoted to the state, the civil servants, were the most respected in the Union. Minorities Some within the Union held separate identities to that of Orjeri and remained minorities in the Union, some of these included: those that Dwelt in the Mountains, the knolls of the midlands, the orcs of the east and the Feyfolk of Glasigmyr. Economy Prodcution and Markets Being such a massive nation comprised of various geographical zones, the Orjeri Union had a diverse range of production and trade with its advanced canal network facilitating much of its communication links. In the peninsula mainly luxury goods were created such as oils and furniture, the the east vast farmland was created, in the south colossal trees were felled to for lumber and in the mountains metals were mined from deep within the rock. The Union was mostly self-contained with little trade happening beyond its borders, this was due to both a lack of equal trading partners in the area and to prevent any entanglement with foreign states should relations turn hostile. The Treasury of Orjer The Treasury of Orjer collected the taxes from the various provinces and held its wealth in a vault in the city where every four years the champions of the provinces would decide how the hoarded gold was to be spent. In times of crisis the vault could be opened by the guildmasters of the city, this rarely happened however and was seen as a failure on the part of the champions. Religion State Religion Religion in the Union was mainly subject to trends in fashion rather that any continuity of belief. In some parts the reverence and homage paid towards the ancestral spirits and elements of nature common throughout Farthrone seeped in and in other regions the worship of the infernal and demonic figures of the Turath Empire was popular. There was however never a state religion and persecution of individuals for their religious beliefs was rare. The Church of the Three One group that sought to implement a state religion was the Church of the Three who claimed to have maintained the religion of Turath unchanged since its inception. This group was believed to have been founded by one of the heroes of the Union's founding but fell out of favour with the champions during Shardfall due to their doom-saying and the risk they posed in causing civil unrest. They worshiped the demons; Fraz-Urb'luu, Graz'zt, and Dagon. The Lattice For more on this, see here. Probably one of the greatest engineering achievements of the Union was the creation of an expansive canal network known as The Lattice, that criss-crossed much of the midlands and stretched from the capital in the north to the edge of the mountains in the south. The canals allowed for the easy movement of people and goods throughout the Union. Category:Location Category:Organisations Category:Farthrone Category:Orjeri Union